UK's Halfords Group posts lower annual profit

FILE PHOTO: A view of the Halfords store front in Rugby Britain November 19, 2020. REUTERS/Molly Darlington/File Photo

(Reuters) - British bicycle and car products retailer Halfords Group reported a drop in annual profit on Thursday as footfall across its stores fell due to challenging market conditions and wet weather.

The company posted an underlying pre-tax profit from total operations of 36.1 million pounds ($45.62 million) for the year ended March 29, compared with 44.2 million pounds a year earlier.

Analysts on average had forecast a profit of about 36.2 million pounds, according to a company-compiled consensus.

($1 = 0.7913 pounds)

(Reporting by Echha Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)